


Cipher's House: Fallen Star

by neyla9



Category: Gravity Falls, Gregory Horror Show
Genre: Dark Comedy, Horror, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:51:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 16,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neyla9/pseuds/neyla9
Summary: Mabel Pines is out late looking for her brother. He disappeared a while back, and he hasn't been seen since. However, misfortune strikes when the weather takes a turn for the worse.But maybe her luck is about to change, when she just so happens to come across a hotel in the middle of nowhere. A hotel that it seems her brother has visited too...





	1. The New Guest

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel to my fic "Cipher's House", this time focusing around Mabel. As stated in said fic, if you haven't already watched Gregory Horror Show, the series that this fic is based around, I can really recommend it, especially if you love horror and dark comedy.
> 
> I'm still working on the next chapter of Abducted, but right now it's only at around 700 words, so it might still be a while. Thank you for your patience:3

_I had been out walking late at night when I, to my surprise, found myself within a forest. I guess I was caught up in my thoughts at the time. The rain was pouring down and the wind was cold and chilling. I had been out looking for my brother, who had suddenly disappeared. It was getting late when I saw some light in the distance._

The light turned out to come from windows in a huge, mansion-like building. Mabel had at first thought it was a mansion, but the sign outside saying “Cipher’s House” seemed to suggest it was some kind of hotel.

 

If the building was a hotel, she could stay there for the night. If it wasn’t a hotel or she couldn’t afford to stay there, she would probably have been forced to call a cab.

 

She carefully stepped across the crooked stone trail that led through the front garden to the main entrance. She knocked on the door and someone opened it, only a small candle lighting the person’s face.

 

“Oh, come in! Come in!” the person, a young man with thin, blond hair, said. He rushed Mabel inside, closing and locking the door behind them. “It’s rare I get guests at this hour. Do you have any idea what time it is?” There was a certain humor to his tone, making it clear that he wasn’t angry at Mabel for disturbing him at this time.

 

“I’m… actually not sure,” Mabel responded with a shrug, shaking slightly from the cold. “The time kinda just… ran off, I guess?”

 

“It’s nearly three am, my friend,” the man chuckled. “A young girl like you should be asleep at this time. Unless, of course, you’ve been out partying with friends, hm?”

 

“No, no,” Mabel shook her head. “I… I’ve been looking for my brother; Dipper. You… you wouldn’t have happened to see him? We look a lot alike, but he’s got shorter hair, a slightly longer nose… umm, he’s skinnier than me… Does that ring any bells at all?”

 

“Hmm, that _does_ sound like one of our guests,” the man pondered in thought.

 

“Is he still here!?” Mabel asked excitedly. “In what room!?”

 

“Now, now, I can’t be certain if he’s still here,” the man chuckled. “I’ll have to look through our records. In the meantime, why don’t I show you to your room? The first night at Cipher’s House is always free of charge.”

 

“Oh, thank you so much!” Mabel felt like she was about to cry with joy. Finally things were starting to turn around!

 

“No need to thank me, my friend,” the man smiled brightly at her. “I’m just doing my job~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another night, another guest. The cycle continues as it always does, and the lost souls flock to Cipher's House


	2. A Clue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel discovers a clue that could mean that her brother had been at the hotel

_I had been so happy at first… I thought the hotel had been my lucky break… It took me a while to realize just how wrong I had been…_

The man, the owner Mabel presumed, led her to a door with the number 205 on it.

 

“Here we are~” he used a key, from a key chain he was carrying, to unlock the door. He opened it and stepped inside along with Mabel. “Please feel free to hang your overcoat in the closet,” he gestured to the closet in the sparsely decorated, but still homey room.

 

Mabel opened the closet, but was surprised to find another coat inside; a male coat, and one definitely meant for warmer weather than the current mid-autumn chill.

 

“Oh, a previous resident of this room must have forgotten their jacket,” the owner shook his head disapprovingly and removed the coat from the closet.

 

“That coat…” Mabel frowned before realization struck. “That coat belongs to my brother!”

 

“You mean he has the same kind?” the owner asked.

 

“I… I guess it could belong to someone else,” Mabel admitted. “But what if it _is_ his!? Does this means he’s already left?”

 

“Not necessarily,” the owner was quick to assure her. “This room is only for our one-night stays. Our permanent guests receive new rooms.”

 

“’Permanent guests’?” Mabel repeated. “What does that mean? You have people who stay here permanently?”

 

“Yes,” the owner nodded enthusiastically. “And it is possible your brother chose to stay here. I’ll have to look through our paperwork tomorrow, but I’ll get right back with you as soon as I know!”

 

“Thank you,” Mabel smiled at him gratefully, before taking off her still wet coat and hanging it in the closet.

 

“You’re very welcome,” the owner turned to leave the room. “My name is Bill Cipher, and I am the owner of the hotel. If you have any questions or wishes at all, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus hope is ignited within Mabel, but the brighter the hope, the deeper the despair that follows...


	3. The Frog Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While waiting for the host to arrive, Mabel meets one of the hotel's many peculiar guests...

_I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always been sort of… boy crazy… And the guys I fall for haven’t always been the greatest, but… I mean, I’ve come a long way from my naive teens._

Mabel had barely been able to fall asleep last night; she had been too strung up at the possibility of finding her brother. When she awoke from a short slumber however, she looked out of her hotel window to discover that it was still dark out… or already? How long had she been asleep?

 

Mabel took out her cell phone, and vaguely noted that there was no signal, which made sense being in a forest and all; the trees tended to block signals. According to her phone, it was around nine am. Her phone clock was probably not the most accurate in the world, but it couldn’t be _that_ far off.

 

Shrugging slightly, Mabel got up and exited her room, making her way to the reception area to wait for Cipher.

 

She sat down in one of the armchairs; they were somewhat dirty, but not to a disgusting degree.

 

“Princess!” a voice called out. Mabel looked up and saw a drop-dead gorgeous man; he had blond, curly hair, dark green eyes, and fair skin. Oddly enough, he wore some really weird clothes; it was green, a couple of shades lighter than his eyes, but it looked like something from a medieval fair.

 

“Are you talking to me?” Mabel asked, pointing an unsure finger to herself.

 

“Yes!” the man exclaimed, dropping down to his knees in front of Mabel, gently taking her hand and giving the back of it a kiss. “You are the one; the one I’ve been looking for! The one who will break this curse thrust upon me!”

 

“O-okay,” Mabel’s eyebrows shot in the air. “Look, uh, you’re really hot, like, ‘I wanna have your babies’-hot, but I think something’s wrong with you…?”

 

The man just stared at Mabel and shook his head.

 

“Oh, Princess, you too have been afflicted by an evil curse,” the man sighed. “Why else would I find you in this Palace of Evil? But fear not! Once my curse has been broken, I will have the means to rescue us both!”

 

Before Mabel had a chance to protest, the man surged forward, pressing his lips against hers. It was a brief kiss; Mabel barely had time to register what had happened, before she found herself with a small, green frog in her lap.

 

“Ah, I see you’re awake,” Mabel looked away from the frog, which jumped down and began to flee the room, to discover Cipher. Mabel was unsure of when he arrived, but she supposed it must have been recently and she just didn’t notice. “And I also see you’ve met one of the hotel’s permanent guests.”

 

“You mean that guy from before?” Mabel asked confusedly. “Where did he go? A-and where did that frog come from?”

 

“He’s called ‘The Frog Prince’,” Cipher continued. Mabel was unsure if he was referring to the man or the frog. “Ever since he came here, he’s been trying to break this ‘curse’. He thinks it can be broken by true love’s kiss.”

 

“I… I don’t understand,” Mabel shook her head in confusion. “What even is this curse?”

 

“Every time he kisses someone, he’s transformed into either a frog or human, depending on what his current form is, of course.”

 

Mabel could only look at Cipher like he was totally insane; he had to be joking, right?

 

“I don’t even think he remembers what his original form was,” Bill shrugged nonchalantly. “Anyway, you wanted me to look for your brother in our records, right?”

 

“Yes, my brother; Dipper,” Mabel clarified, already putting the previous odd event behind her.

 

“I’ll look for him right away,” Cipher smiled and walked through a door which, Mabel assumed, led to his office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Frog Prince, convinced that true love's kiss will break the spell, even though every kiss causes him to change form; you can't help but wonder where he got the idea from


	4. Damocles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel waits for Cipher to look through the hotel's records, and she meets another hotel guest...

_When it comes to keeping promises, I’ll admit I haven’t always been the best; I’ll promise to do something, and then not follow through, but that’s not really my fault, is it? Sometimes I promise to do things I just can’t!_

Mabel was still sitting in the armchair; she was waiting for Cipher to return, but was also trying to repress what had just transpired. Maybe she had just blacked out for a moment, people did that sometimes right? It made more sense than a man turning into a frog!

 

“Excuse me?” Mabel was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts. A man was sitting beside her, in something that looked like a cross between a throne and a wheelchair. Mabel couldn’t tell if the man was old or young; his hair was brightly colored and his features looked young, except for a few, deep wrinkles, and how frail his body looked.

 

“Sorry,” Mabel turned her attention to the man. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

 

“I can see that,” the man laughed with mirth. “I just…” the man hesitated, while a look of deep worry appeared on his face. “I wanted to ask if you could watch my throne while I take care of something?”

 

“Your… throne?” Mabel glanced at the throne-like wheelchair. “Um… Sorry for asking, but don’t you need it?”

 

“No, but,” the man swallowed audibly. “Someone always needs to sit in it, and I… I have some things I need to do.”

 

The man sounded pretty eccentric, but what the heck! Mabel would have to wait in this room anyway, so she might as well do this guy a favor.

 

“Sure, how long will you be away?” Mabel asked.

 

“About… half an hour,” the man said and almost shot out of his chair, pushing Mabel into as he did so. “Just… try not to let it get to you.” And with those words, the man ran out of the room.

 

Mabel leaned back in the wheelchair, finding it surprisingly comfortable. Once ten minutes had passed, she began drumming her fingers against the chair, wondering when Cipher would be finished looking through the hotel’s records. She supposed it was a matter of how many guests the hotel had received since her brother, but it couldn’t have been that many; the hotel lied in the middle of nowhere after all, and Mabel had never even heard of it.

 

Sighing from the boredom, Mabel turned her gaze upward to look at the ceiling, but froze at what she saw; above her, dangling from a thin thread, was a huge, sharpened sword. Mabel tried to carefully move the wheelchair away from the sword, but it followed her. She tried to see if there was something connecting the thread to the wheelchair, but she couldn’t see anything.

 

The thread looked like it could break any second. In fact, it was started to look pretty strained. Without giving it a second thought, Mabel leapt out of the chair, followed by the sword stabbing through the wheelchair and even piercing part of the floor.

 

Mabel lied on the floor, breathing heavily from her narrow escape.

 

“Oh, why did you do that?” Mabel looked up and saw that Cipher had returned. He had a disappointed look on his face.

 

“W-what do you mean?” Mabel gasped and rose from the floor. “I almost got stabbed by that sword!”

 

“But you had promised to stay there,” Cipher explained. “It was your responsibility.”

 

“I’m not gonna die over something like that,” Mabel shook her head and gave Cipher an odd look; how could he expect her to stay in the seat when danger loomed above her?

 

“The sword fell because you left,” Cipher elaborated. “Responsibility is quite the heavy burden,” Cipher stepped over to the chair. “And you can never know when the consequences of it will fall,” he grabbed the sword. “But if there is no one there to wield the power and keep everything in check,” he pulled the sword out with ease, revealing that the tip was now covered in blood, as if it had hit someone after it fell through the floor. “You can never know who will face the fall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The weight of responsibility is like a hanging sword you never know when will drop. Still, it is your duty to others to keep at it, even with the looming doom above your head. After all, you promised...
> 
>  
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the first batch of chapters! Please leave a comment if you want to, I love to receive comments:3
> 
> Also, please tell me what you think about the end notes blurps I leave after each chapter. They were pretty much an after thought in "Cipher's House", but I don't know what you readers think about them; unnecessary? Repetitive? Pretentious? Or maybe you like them? I dunno


	5. Another Clue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel receives some unfortunate news from Cipher, and begins to explore part of the hotel

_The whole revelation with the sword had been… unsettling to say the least, but it had to be a joke, right? I mean, Cipher’s not exactly acting like I just got someone killed, he’s not calling the cops for instance, so… nothing bad had actually happened, right?_

“So, um…” Mabel shuffled her feet, unsure of what to say.

 

Cipher simply used his shirt to clean the blood of the sword with a single swipe, seemingly ignoring her.

 

“Uh, did…” Mabel let out a small cough to get his attention. “Did you find my brother?”

 

“Oh, about that,” Cipher dropped the sword and turned towards Mabel. “I looked through all our records, but there has never been a guest with the name ‘Dipper Pines’ at the hotel.”

 

“H-he might have used his real name!” Mabel suggested, feeling slightly desperate; this was the only clue she had to her brother’s disappearance! He had to be in the hotel, or at least had visited it. “His real name is Mason. Did you search for a ‘Mason Pines’ too?”

 

“I didn’t,” Cipher said with an awkward smile. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to look through our records again, although it might take a little longer this time.”

 

“Why?”

 

“You know how it is when you think you’ve finished a long tedious task, and then it turns out you did it wrong, and now you need to do it again?” And with those words, Cipher walked out of the room.

 

Mabel didn’t feel comfortable staying in the reception area. If this was going to take longer, she might as well explore the hotel. Maybe she’d even be lucky enough to run into her brother!

 

While walking around, she managed to find a garden, located in the very middle of the hotel. What mainly drew her attention was a greenhouse on the other side of the garden, and what looked like a trash area; it was a small area filled with trash cans and wooden boxes, each of them full of garbage. The area was located near a door, which Mabel assumed led to the kitchen since most of the trash looked like leftover food, except for one thing. Lying between the trash was a small pile of what looked like… tree bark, only there was something red and crusty stained on it. Mabel picked the bark up and examined the stains; it was definitely dried blood.

 

Why was there dried blood on some discarded tree bark?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bark covered in blood, thrown out with the trash. A piece of garbage, or a vital clue? Has the search been returned to zero progress, or is Mabel closer than she thinks?


	6. The Greenhouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds a greenhouse in the garden, filled with mysterious and overgrown plants... and another clue to the pile

_The greenhouse in the garden managed to catch my attention. For some reason, you couldn’t see through the glass that the greenhouse was made, making what was inside a mystery. I almost wish it had remained a mystery…_

Mabel walked up to the greenhouse, placing a small piece of the bloodied bark beside the entrance; she wanted to ask Cipher about it later, so she had decided to bring a small piece along so she wouldn’t forget.

 

She opened the door to the greenhouse, first sticking her head through to see if anyone was there. Aside from the plants, the greenhouse seemed to be empty. Said plants seemed rather overgrown; most of them lined the walls, covering up the windows totally, and the flowers that were there were enormous. No wonder she couldn’t see through the greenhouse.

 

Walking deeper inside the greenhouse, Mabel spotted something near the very end, lying on a table covered in dirt and half-empty ceramic pots; a splash of blue and white in the otherwise green and brown surroundings.

 

Mabel almost ran to the table and picked the object of interest; no doubt about it, this was her brother’s hat! She turned around, ready to return to Cipher and ask him about the hat, but froze when she felt something grab her ankle.

 

She looked down and was relieved to see that it was just a thin vine that had gotten tangled around her ankle. She crouched down to untangle the vine, when another one grabbed her wrist.

 

Startled, Mabel let out a small gasp, but before she was able to fully register what was happening, a third vine, this one much thicker than the others, twisted itself around Mabel’s legs and pulled her into the air, violently snapping off the other two vines, both of which seemed to slink back like scared dogs.

 

“Help!” Mabel screamed while also trying to free herself; she tried to scratch the vine, hoping the seemingly living plant could feel pain, but in doing so, she also dropped the hat. She tried to free her legs by attempting to kick, but that didn’t work.

 

The vine carried Mabel over to what looked like a huge, somewhat wilted, rosebud. The petals of the flower opened up, revealing a gaping maw, filled cylindrical, spiky teeth. The vine dangled Mabel over the flower for a bit, before releasing her right into the hungry mouth.

 

Mabel fought and screamed; kicking, punching, scratching, whatever she could to get out, while the petals of the flower slowly closed in. She felt several of the sharp teeth tearing her clothes and piercing her skin, but the adrenalin in her body enabled her to ignore the pain.

 

Finally, Mabel managed to grab one of the petals that hadn’t closed yet, and used it to pull herself out of the mouth. She grabbed the hat and ran as fast as she could out of the greenhouse.

 

 

Bill was sitting in his room, preferring to be there when he looked through the papers. Not that he actually needed to do that; there was no Dipper Pines at the hotel, and certainly no Mason Pines either, but he needed his new guest to keep believing that there was.

 

He supposed he didn’t really need to look through the hotel records, but it was always nice to take a look at the many guests who called his hotel their home; whether they liked it or not.

 

“… When can I leave?” a voice from behind Bill asked. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, since they were the only two currently in the room. Besides, Bill would recognize that voice anywhere.

 

“Be patient, my sweet,” Bill chuckled darkly. “In time, you will have your role to play~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is starting to realize just how dangerous the hotel is, but chances are it hasn't quite sunken in yet. Either way, she has to find her brother. Meanwhile, Bill has a plan, which everything is thus far going according to...


	7. Dear Dove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds a weak bird with a broken wing in the garden, and she encounters Cipher once again.

_I almost can’t believe I made it out of that greenhouse alive! What was even up with that place?! Man-eating plants!?! I’m… I’m pretty sure there’s something very wrong with this hotel…_

Mabel breathed heavily as she shut the greenhouse’s door behind her. She remembered to grab the bark she had left, before she made her way back towards the door to the hotel.

 

Stopping in her tracks, she turned her head back towards the greenhouse, then glanced at the hat in her hand. If her brother’s hat had been in there, did that mean those plants had…? No, of course not! If Mabel had been able to make it out alive, so could Dipper; he was tougher than a bunch of vegetables!

 

Mabel was brought out of her thoughts by what sounded like a bird tweeting; it sounded weak, in pain. Mabel made her way towards the sound, which led her to some overgrown bushes in the corner of the garden. Hidden inside the bushes, she found a small bird. It looked like a sparrow, only it was black and white instead of the usual grey and brown.

 

The bird tweeted in pain once more, dragging its right wing while the left wing fluttered.

 

“You poor thing,” Mabel cooed at the bird. She carefully extended her hand, intending to pick the bird up, but the moment she touched it, it screamed and convulsed in pain. “Huh? I’m- I’m sorry,” Mabel stuttered, trying to pick up the bird again, more forceful this time. “I’m trying to help you!”

 

Even though Mabel held the bird in a gentle grip, it let out a strained, almost choked tweet, before Mabel heard a cracking sound, and then the bird was completely still…

 

“Oh, you found Dear Dove,” Mabel looked up and saw the hotel’s owner, Cipher, looming over her.

 

“I… I tried to help it,” Mabel insisted, starting to tear up slightly.

 

“But you didn’t realize how fragile he is,” Cipher shook his head slowly. “Until it was too late. Such a shame.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Mabel whispered, feeling utterly powerless as she still held the small bird. “I don’t know what else to say; I’m sorry.”

 

“Oh well,” Cipher gave a casual shrug, took the bird and threw it across the garden. “I guess it’s all in the past now.”

 

“Why did you do that!?” Mabel screeched horrified.

 

“He was already dead,” Cipher rolled his eyes condescendingly. “It’s not like he could feel that.”

 

Mabel bit her tongue and gave a worried glance to where the bird’s corpse had landed.

 

“Did… did you find anything about my brother?” she asked carefully.

 

“Yes, about that,” Cipher scratched the back of his neck, averting his gaze from Mabel. He let out a sigh and turned around, making it impossible for Mabel to see his facial expression. “I couldn’t find a ‘Mason Pines’ either.”

 

“You’re lying!” Mabel nearly screamed at the host. Cipher turned back around and faced her with a surprised expression.

 

“What makes you say that?” he asked, tilting his head in an exaggerated manner. Mabel responded by pulling out her brother’s hat, almost shoving it into Cipher’s face.

 

“This is my brother’s hat,” Mabel growled. “I found it in the greenhouse; the greenhouse that has a man-eating plant, in case you needed that clarified. So either you tell me the truth, or I’m calling cops on you.”

 

“Now, now there’s no need to get all huffy,” Cipher reprimanded her. “The greenhouse is a very new addition to the hotel; it hasn’t killed anyone yet.”

 

“What do you mean ‘yet’?” Mabel asked, her eyes widening at what that sentence suggested.

 

“It means what I said,” Cipher shrugged again. “Anyway, our hotel does not require identification, as you probably noticed when you first arrived; your brother could easily stay here under a fake name. Was there anything else?”

 

Mabel glanced at the bloodied bark. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was hesitating. Probably because of what Cipher had said about the greenhouse, that it hadn’t killed anyone _yet_. But that had to be another joke, right?

 

“I found this in the garbage,” Mabel said, showing Cipher the bark. “Why is it covered in blood?”

 

“Oh, I helped one of our guests remove it,” Cipher explained.

 

“That doesn’t explain the blood.”

 

“Sure it does; it’d be kinda like if you removed your outer skin!”

 

“W-what?” Mabel stared at him, convinced she had heard wrong.

 

“Yeah, I helped him come out of his shell, literally _and_ figuratively!” Cipher laughed. “Oh, there was so much blood at the time! And how he screamed, you should’ve heard it! And sure, without the bark, he’s more vulnerable, but I think he’s happier like this.”

 

With each word spoken out of Cipher’s mouth, Mabel became convinced of one of three things; either Cipher was absolutely crazy, something was very wrong with this hotel, or, most terrifying of all, they were both true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fragility is a complicated concept. Even if you know something is fragile, can you truly comprehend how fragile until you test its limits? What is the better thing to do? Coddle it, live in constant fear of breaking it? Or take a chance which may cause irreversible damage? There is no correct answer to this question.
> 
> Thank you for reading, hope you liked it:3 Unfortunately, I haven't written a lot these last weeks because of exams, but my exams are over now, so I'm back!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


	8. The Doctor's In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is taken to the hotel's resident doctor

_The hotel was starting to feel unsafe. After the encounter with the plant that tried to eat me, coupled with the host’s lack of reaction, it seemed that there was something deeply wrong and dangerous with the place. Why would my brother ever choose to stay here?_

“So how was the plant anyway?” Cipher suddenly asked, breaking Mabel out of her thoughts.

 

“What do you mean?” Mabel responded, wary of his answer.

 

“Well, how close did it get to eat you?” Cipher clarified, smiling as if there was nothing sinister about his question.

 

Mabel didn’t verbally reply. She just held up her arms, showing off her torn sleeves and wounded arms.

 

“Oh, you poor thing,” Cipher cooed, but neither his expression nor his tone showed any sign of worry. “Let me show you to the hotel’s doctor; he’ll patch you up in no time~”

 

“Your hotel has a doctor?” Mabel asked skeptically, but still followed Cipher back inside.

 

“Yes,” Cipher looked over his shoulder, whether to make sure that Mabel was following him or to keep eye contact, Mabel wasn’t sure. “And don’t worry; he’s very nice. He’ll be more than happy to help you.”

 

Cipher led Mabel to another hotel room, a decent walk away from her own. He knocked on the door three times and it slowly opened, revealing an old man with purple-blue skin, almost as if his entire body was one big bruise, but Mabel could get past that; maybe it was just a weird skin condition. What she couldn’t explain away was the giant screw stuck in the old man’s head! It was huge, and from the looks of it, it went right through his head, kinda like one of those gag hair bands with the arrow or knife, but by the way the screw gleamed in the limited light, it looked real.

 

The old man smiled when he spotted Mabel, and even though she couldn’t see his eyes past his glasses, she got the feeling that there was an evil glint in them.

 

“Dr. Screwloose,” Cipher addressed the old man. “This is Mabel Pines. As you can see, she’s been attacked, and she needs your help to recover from her wounds~”

 

“Ah, it would be my pleasure,” the doctor grinned and stood aside. “Come in! Come in!”

 

Mabel stood in place at first, but when she saw Cipher step inside, she went along; she might not have wanted to go inside that room, but she was more scared of being all alone at that moment.

 

“Now, are we talking anything special here?” the doctor asked Cipher, his voice almost too low for Mabel to hear it.

 

“I’ll put my trust in your impeccable skills, doctor,” Cipher chuckled, his voice just as low. “Let her be your canvas; I have no real need for her.”

 

“W-what does that mean?” Mabel stuttered, slowly backing away from the other two.

 

“Oh, did you hear that?” Cipher’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t lose his mirthful tone.

 

“Don’t worry, Bill,” the doctor laughed and grabbed Mabel by the arm. “I’ll see what I can do.”

 

With Cipher’s help, the doctor managed to strap Mabel down to a metal operating table, a large metal strap closed around her waist and arms, keeping her in place.

 

“I’m sorry, but I need to leave now,” Cipher told Mabel after strapping her to the table. “Someone needs to run this hotel after all,” he stage whispered to the doctor, who laughed in response. “Plus, it’s that time of the month, so I don’t have a lot of free time today~”

 

“You know, I would be more than happy to fill in for you once in a while,” Screwloose said with a creepy smile on his lips.

 

Cipher’s smirk immediately fell, replaced with an expression of cold anger.

 

“I hope that was a joke, Doctor,” Cipher said with a completely serious and almost threatening tone.

 

“Fair enough,” Screwloose shrugged. “But I’m still mad you’re hogging him all to yourself.”

 

“Everyone else is fair game,” Cipher growled before exiting the room.

 

“Ah, sorry about that,” Screwloose chuckled in a friendly manner. It might have eased Mabel’s worries if the doctor didn’t have a giant screw stuck through his head. “Bill and I have a slightly… complicated relationship.”

 

“What are you gonna do to me?” Mabel asked, already shaking with fear. She was curious about whom the two men had been talking about, but right now figuring that out wasn’t her top priority.

 

“Hmm, that is an excellent question,” the doctor paused, looking like he was pondering. “I will definitely have to do something about that nose… Oh, and your earlobes of course. Then I should probably take a look at some of your organs; how would you like to have seven kidneys?”

 

“You’re joking, right!?” Mabel exclaimed, shaking with fear while Screwloose started digging through his tools.

 

“Your canines could be sharper too,” the doctor mumbled. “But I still don’t know if I should sharpen the ones you have, or replace them with new ones…”

 

Mabel began to thrash, trying in vain to break out of the metal strap. Doctor Screwloose had his back turned, still looking through his tools and mumbling to himself about what he wanted to do to Mabel.

 

She could feel her body break into a cold sweat. The sweat ran down her brow, her back, and even… her arms… That gave her an idea; she used the sweat on her arms as a sort of lubricant, allowing her to squeeze out of her restraints.

 

She tried to sneak out of the room, when Screwloose finally turned around, holding up a knife that looked more suited for chopping meat than performing a delicate operation.

 

“Huh? How did you escape?!” the doctor growled and began advancing towards Mabel. “Looks like I’ll have to cut you into pieces and put you back together!”

 

Mabel honestly didn’t know if she could take on the doctor, especially since he was carrying a weapon, so she did the only thing she could think of, and ran out of the room and back into the hotel’s hallways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is truly begin to realize what kind of danger she's in, and it will be a test of her courage to see how long she'll choose to stay in the hotel, before she gives up on rescuing her brother


	9. The Dollmaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While running away from Doctor Screwloose, Mabel encounters another guest at the hotel who helps her out

_I was running through the hotel, hoping I would run into someone who could save me. Doctor Screwloose kept chasing me, even when I ran up the stairs and into another hallway._

As Mabel ran through down the hallway, she could still hear Screwloose behind her; his heavy steps and loud voice especially.

 

“Come now!” he called out to her. “It’ll be over before you know it!”

 

Mabel almost felt like sobbing. She was running on adrenaline alone, and already felt like she was about to collapse.

 

Turning a corner, she spotted a door which was slightly ajar, a white-gloved hand reaching out of it and waving Mabel closer. Desperate, Mabel ran through the door, which shut right behind her. Shortly after, she heard Screwloose’s steps as he ran past.

 

“Thank y-“ Mabel paused when she got a good look at her savior. He was male, wore white gloves on both hands, along with a dark purple suit. His skin, however, was covered in stitches, with the skin itself resembling felt. His body and limbs were thin, with big hands and feet, and a big, very round head. His face didn’t have a nose, just a black opening for a mouth, and two big, black buttons for eyes, and his hair seemed to be made out of strands of yarn in every color of the rainbow.

 

“You’re a new guest, aren’t you?” the man(?) spoke. “I haven’t met every single guest staying her, but… you are different… There’s something different about you. Different like the others…”

 

“Uh…” Mabel let out an awkward cough, unsure of how to react to the sight in front of her. “Thank you for saving me. My name is Mabel.”

 

“Oh, that is a lovely name,” the man smiled widely at her before grabbing one of her hands. “Do you work with your hands?”

 

“Um, I like to knit,” Mabel shrugged, carefully pulling her hand back.

 

“Yes, knitting is great,” the man nodded. “Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself; I’m The Dollmaker. I make dolls.”

 

“What kind of dolls?” Mabel asked warily, ready to bolt at a minute’s notice.

 

“Knitted ones, sewn ones, porcelain ones, wooden ones,” The Dollmaker listed off. “Do you wanna see them?”

 

“… Okay,” Mabel responded hesitantly. The Dollmaker didn’t seem hostile, maybe just a bit not there. Anyway, for now she would rather stay with him than go back out there and run into Doctor Screwloose again.

 

The Dollmaker led Mabel further into his room, revealing shelves upon shelves of dolls, each one unique. Some were tiny enough to fit in her hand, others were as big as her.

 

“So, what do you do anyway?” the Dollmaker asked, picking up a random doll from the shelf.

 

“Uh, I’m a student at the moment,” Mabel responded. “I’m studying to become a fashion designer-“

 

“No, I mean, _what do you do?_ ” he reiterated. “How long have you’ve been staying here?”

 

“This is my second day, I think,” Mabel frowned, still not getting what the Dollmaker meant. “It’s been dark for as long as I’ve been here, so I’m not sure.”

 

“Oh, that’s why you’re different,” the Dollmaker mumbled and put the doll away. “Did you know you can stay at the hotel forever?”

 

“I think the owner said something like that,” Mabel nodded.

 

“… Do you want to?”

 

“ ** _No_** ,” Mabel shook her head almost violently.”As soon as I get my brother, we’re both getting out of here. Why would you even want to stay here!?”

 

“… I thought we could have been friends,” he sighed sadly. “What kind of doll would you like to be?”

 

“E-excuse me?” Mabel looked around as all the dolls began to move, rising from their sitting position.

 

“I am the Dollmaker. I make dolls. Sometimes, I make dolls out of guests trying to leave…”

 

Mabel’s only reaction was to run. She could hear the Dollmaker and his army of dolls pursue. She also felt several dolls hit her, either because the Dollmaker was throwing them at her, or because they were trying to jump her. Some of them managed to grab Mabel, clinging to her clothes or arms, slowing her down, but she shook them off, and even heard the porcelain dolls break on the floor.

 

Finally she could see the door. She grabbed the handle, flung it open, exited, and slammed it shut. She took a moment to calm down, taking a few deep breaths; she even let out a couple of sobs at her near death experience.

 

Then, she felt something crawling on her shoulder. She grabbed it, threw it to the floor, and stomped hard on it several times, tearing up the doll’s fabric in the process, for it had been one of the dolls. However, instead of normal, white cotton, or a similar material, the doll was stuffed filled organs… Organs that had been smashed by Mabel’s foot and were now covering her shoe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A friendly face and possible ally turns into an enemy at a single phrase... Such people are rarely truly your friends, and sometimes you have to learn that the hard way


	10. The Screams From The Spa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel looks for a place to clean her filthy shoe, but she overhears some disturbing noises

_I- I hadn’t expected the doll to be filled with guts! Oh god, the smell is horrible… I think… I think I’m gonna puke. I need to find some place to clean the worst off..._

Mabel clutched her stomach and covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve. The stench of the splattered organs was downright disgusting, making her stomach churn at the smell and sight.

 

She wobbled off down the hallway, hoping to find a washroom or something to clean her shoe.

 

In the midst of the numbered rooms, Mabel did come across a door that looked different; it was a double-door made of glass, however the glass was in a delta frost design, making it impossible to see through it, aside from a couple of colors. Still, Mabel could clearly hear voices coming from behind the door, and given her current track record with the hotel’s inhabitants, she decided to place her ear against the door instead of entering it, to try and hear what was going on.

 

The voices were heavily muffled, but she could hear what sounded like sobbing or even crying coming from behind the door, a different, also muffled, voice responding:

 

“Now, now, it’s almost over~”

 

She heard a scraping sound along with someone screaming.

 

“You aren’t being very cooperative today,” the voice from before said. “Should I bring out the machine?”

 

Mabel didn’t hear a reply, but soon the sound of some kind of machine was heard, whirring and buzzing, and Mabel heard several hysterical screams before the machine was seemingly shut off.

 

“Alright, and we’re done for this month,” the unknown voice chuckled. “ _Oh!_ Unless you wanna make it special?! Do you want oil or-? You know what? It’ll be a surprise~”

 

Suddenly the door was flung open, pushing Mabel into the wall and closing again before she had a chance to see what was inside. The person who had exited turned out to be none other than Cipher.

 

“Ah, I see you’re still kicking,” the host greeted Mabel with mirth in his voice.

 

“Wha- What were you doing in there?” Mabel demanded to know, her guts-covered shoe completely forgotten in favor of what had possibly transpired behind those doors.

 

“Oh, this is the hotel’s second spa,” Cipher explained. “We already had one, but it’s geared more towards bathing and such, whereas this is more of a massage spa, I guess, although it’s also used for… other appointments…”

 

“What were you doing in there?!” Mabel repeated, more desperately this time.

 

“One of our guests needs… a treatment once every month. And being the gracious host that I am, of course I’ve decided to assist him.”

 

Considering what counted as a doctor’s appointment in this hotel, Mabel wasn’t sure she wanted to know what this treatment even was.

 

“Anyway, feel free to keep exploring my hotel; I’m sure your brother is hiding just behind the corner!” Cipher chuckled while turning around to leave. “Oh, but do refrain from looking through this room until _after_ me and my guest are finished.”

 

After Cipher had turned a corner, Mabel focused on the doors; for all she knew, some poor guy could be stuck in there, suffering endless bounds of torture at Cipher’s hand! Sure, there was the possibility that Cipher had told the truth, and he really was just helping out one of the hotel guests, but Mabel doubted someone as sadistic as Cipher seemed to be would do that out of the goodness of their heart.

 

She took a moment, trying to steel her nerves for what was undoubtedly going to be a bloody sight to behold, before placing her hand on one of the knobs, and prepared to open.

 

Before she had the chance, however, a hand grabbed hers and violently pulled it away, holding it in a tight, painful grip. It was Cipher, and he looked pissed.

 

“What were you doing?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

 

“I- I was just going to…” Mabel stuttered. She didn’t know how to explain herself, and what was worse, she had no idea what this furious Cipher would do to her.

 

“Did you think that was smart?” Cipher laughed mockingly, still glaring at her angrily. “I think you need to think about what you were just about to do…”

 

He let go of Mabel’s hand, and suddenly the floor under her collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Curiousity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Sometimes that curiousity should not be satisfied however. Who knows how Mabel would have reacted to the sight that awaited her behind those doors?...
> 
> Thanks for reading, and for all the positive feedback! I really appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to leave a comment, and I am so happy you've been enjoying the story thus far, and I hope this will include these new chapters:3
> 
> Please feel free to leave a comment, I really love getting commentsX3


	11. Judgment Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds herself stuck in a dark hallway, and she quickly realizes that she is not alone...

_Of all the things to happen, I hadn’t expected the floor to collapse under me. Maybe it was some kind of trapdoor? But that wouldn’t make sense given how far I’ve fallen… I should’ve landed in the hallway on the floor below, but instead I feel like I’ve fallen for… almost a full minute…_

After falling for much longer than she logically should have, Mabel finally hit the ground. The cold, stone floor hurt, but miraculously she didn’t seem to have suffered more injury than a couple of bruises.

 

Getting back on her legs, Mabel looked around and examined her surroundings. It looked like this was the hotel’s basement, or using a more appropriate word, dungeon. It was structured like a hallway, about as wide as the ones in the hotel, but without any doors in sight. The walls and floors were made with stones, the entire atmosphere was cold and damp, and it was so dark that Mabel could barely see two feet in front of her.

 

Mabel knew all she could do was pick a direct and hope it would lead to an exit. After a game of eeny, meeny, miney, moe to decide which way to go, she walked on with cautious steps.

 

The hallway had a big echo to it, enhancing the sound of every step she took, and every shaky breath that left her body. Coupled with the overall silence, this put her on edge, feeling like every sound she made was giving away her position to some monster that lurked just out of eyesight.

 

And then she heard it:

 

“Do you know who I am?”

 

Mabel could barely hear it, but it did make her stop in her tracks, holding her breath to listen closer.

 

“They call me Judgment Boy”

 

She still couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like singing, and it sounded like it was getting closer.

 

“Do you know who I am?”

 

Now she could hear the words, and the song was joined by the sound of rustling chains.

 

“They call me Judgment Boy”

 

She began to run away from the sound, not wanting to see what kind of creature the hotel was throwing at her now.

 

“Do you know who I am?”

 

“I am Judgment Boy”

 

Mabel froze in her tracks; not only had the voice gotten louder, but now the words had changed, and that couldn’t be good. So Mabel stood still, trying to see through the darkness what it was that was chasing her.

 

“JUDGMENT!” the voice shouted, and from the ceiling descended a creature Mabel could barely comprehend. It looked vaguely human, with a head and face, but its mouth was stretched into a horrifying grin lined with long, sharp teeth. It didn’t have any legs, but seemed to be hanged from its cone-shaped hat on some kind of pulley-system. And for arms, it instead had what looked like a pair of scales, with a cage on each end. One cage held a golden dollar symbol inside, the other a pink heart.

 

The creature’s mouth stretched even wider as it looked at Mabel, and it spoke: “You are thirteen years old. You have been struggling academically most of your life, but your brother has always excelled in school. This year however, your brother begins to struggle, and with time his grades get worse and worse. Now… what will you do?”

 

“What?” Mabel shook her head in disbelief. She probably shouldn’t be surprised, but what the monster said sounded awfully similar to… “I help my brother of course! I would be worried about him!”

 

“… I see,” the monster’s grin widened again. “So you _say_ you’d be there for him. Well, _I_ say we should consult the Balance of Truth.”

 

The scales that made up the monster’s arms began to sway, slowly at first, but then began to built up momentum as they swung faster and faster.

 

“Judgment… NOW!” the monster suddenly yelled and the floor of the cage containing the pink heart fell, letting the tiny heart fall down and shatter on the stone beneath. “While your brother is suffering, you’re too busy with friends and boys. The few times you let yourself think about his situation, you take a secret glee in his failure. It was your choice. You get to live with it.”

 

And with that, the monster simply turned around and left, singing the same song he did when he first appeared.

 

While the monster hadn’t physically hurt Mabel, she would have preferred if it did; it would have been better than this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So often when asked tough, hypothetical questions, we pick the answer we believe is right, whether that's factually right or morally right. But when those hypothetical questions become real life decisions, it becomes that much harder to decide what is right and wrong. Sometimes we don't even know what choice we've already made.


	12. Weakened Signal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel continues to wander the dark hallway, when she encounters another odd creature, and witness what she believes is a cry for help

_That had been… disturbing. I only hope I don’t run into that… thing again. I’ve been walking around for a while now, but… I don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Is there even a way back to the hotel?_

Mabel was starting to think she wasn’t going anywhere. It was hard to believe, since she had been walking in a straight line all this time, but still. There was one way to find out for sure; Mabel removed her headband and placed it on the ground behind her, then she kept walking forward. If she found her headband again, it would mean she was running in a circle.

 

Her eyes were starting to grow more accustomed to the dark, but that didn’t make much of a difference.

 

Her feet were starting to ache, but she had to keep walking, otherwise she would surely die here. Mabel kept her pace for twenty minutes longer, before she stopped and leaned against the wall. She could feel that her feet had blisters, and she was almost about to check, when something in the distance drew her gaze.

 

It was a soft, blue glow, approaching from the part of the hallway she had been walking from.

 

Mabel knew she should probably try to outrun whatever was approaching, but she could barely run in this condition, and whatever that glow was, it could probably chase her down, just like the previous monster.

 

As the light got closer, she could make out some voices, and she instinctively tensed, only relaxing when she realized it wasn’t a song. At least it wasn’t another of those monsters.

 

The voices were echoing, and hard to make out in general. It was only when she could see where the glow was coming she realized what the voices were.

 

It had the body of a skeletal, ghostly fish, swimming through the air and illuminating its surroundings with its blue glow. The head, however, looked like one of those old, rabbit-eared, box TVs, and the screen was showing a picture of her brother. It was heavily distorted by static, as were the sound coming from the TV, but it was definitely him.

 

“M-bel,” her brother’s voice sounded from the TV. “I n-ed –“ the image changed and her brother looked frustrated. That was the last glance she caught before the creature passed her, and Mabel pursued behind it. “Wh- w-n- -ou -el- -e?”

 

“Dipper! I’m right here!” Mabel cried out. She had no idea if her brother could hear her, but it seemed like he was speaking to her directly. “A-are you trying to guide me? You know how to get out of here? Where are you?”

 

“N-ver lis-e-! Yo- -ever l-st-n!” it sounded like the static was getting worse.

 

“Dipper, I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me!”

 

“-o- l-te. Y-u -er- t-o -at-,” with those words, the creature flew upwards and through the ceiling, leaving Mabel behind.

 

“I’ll find you, Dipper,” Mabel said, tears starting to stream down her face. “I promise.”

 

Mabel kept walking, albeit at a slower pace now. She didn’t know for how long she walked; too caught up in her own thoughts. Had it been a recorded message? Was Dipper trying to contact her? She was soon broken away from her thoughts when her feet hit something; her headband.

 

She picked up her headband and held it close. It seemed like there was no way out of there after all. She sat down and began to cry, both out of sadness and frustration.

 

“So, have you learned your lesson?” Mabel’s attention was brought away from her tears, and she looked up to see Cipher, standing right in front of her, smirking.

 

“I’m…” Mabel paused to try and regain her composure. “I’m not entirely sure what I was supposed to learn.”

 

Cipher let out an audible sigh and rolled his eyes. “Let’s hope you will. Anyway, follow me; I’ll return you to your room. You’re probably tired by now.”

 

Mabel reluctantly rose from the floor and followed Cipher. It was better than staying where she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories are really clear or factual. Sometimes we only recall things how we wish to remember them, and thus important information is easily lost


	13. Return of Saki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel tries to go sleep, but instead she encounters another monster living in the hotel. And this time, they make a deal.

_I let Cipher lead me back to my room. I’m just too tired at this point to protest. I’ll have to continue my search after at least a couple hours of sleep…_

After escorting Mabel to her room, Cipher left, leaving her alone. Not even bothering to use the covers, Mabel just lied down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

 

Her dreams were plagued by vague nightmares and intangible thoughts, ones that were difficult to grasp and recall, but nonetheless would fill anyone with dread.

 

As she was brought out of her slumber, Mabel found it difficult to breathe, as if a heavy weight was placed upon her chest. She also realized that she couldn’t move, like there was a disconnect between her brain and body.

 

She wanted to call for help, but found that she couldn’t say a word. Her eyes searched the room for an explanation, and she caught sight of a humanoid figure, standing in the corner of her room, staring at her.

 

The figure stepped forward, revealing a young, attractive woman with red eyes. She was smiling at Mabel.

 

“My, what soft skin you have~” she licked her lips, Mabel wasn’t sure if it was hungrily or sexually meant; maybe it was both. “Though, I wonder why Cipher’s alright with me eating you…” the woman frowned in thought. “Perhaps you’ll be able to shed some light on that,” she snapped her fingers, and suddenly Mabel was able to speak again.

 

“W… what do you want?” Mabel asked carefully, trying to take deep breaths despite the invisible weight still on her chest.

 

“Huh, that’s weird,” the woman tilted her head in honest confusion. “Usually the first thing people say to me is ‘Please don’t hurt me’, or a variation of that.”

 

“What can I do to make you spare me?” Mabel inquired.

 

“So, you wanna make a deal?” the woman smirked and rubbed her hands together. “Very interesting… Alright. Here’s the thing, I’m a soul-eating demon. I had a tendency to gorge myself, so my mom sent me to live here, hoping my uncle, hoping he would curb my addiction. He has, because he’s a greedy asshole that hogs all the souls!” the woman shouted with fury, before forcing herself to calm down. “And I can’t eat the souls of the guests, because then he’d know. Luckily, my uncle has two chambers on the hotel’s highest floor where he keeps his soul collection. Unfortunately, I can’t enter those rooms because a magic ward he’s placed on them. If you promise to go to one of those chambers and bring me just one soul to eat, I won’t bother you again. So, do we have a deal?”

 

The woman snapped her fingers again, and Mabel finally felt the weight lift from her chest, and with it she was able to move once again.

 

“Can you show me where those chambers are?” Mabel asked, sitting up in bed.

 

“Nope, that’s not how things work around here,” the woman shook her head. “You have to find it yourself.”

 

“Well, I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Mabel sighed and nodded. “I’ll… find you a soul to eat.”

 

“Great!” the woman cheered and grabbed Mabel’s hand. A small spark of light emerged from her grip, but it disappeared as fast as it came. “My name is Saki, by the way,” she laughed and spun around out of pure joy before opening the door leading to the hallway. “Oh, and our deal only apply to us; everyone else still want to get you, so try not to die before you get me my soul, okay?”

 

And with that, she left Mabel alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with demons is never good, but there rarely is a choice when it's a question of life or dead. At least this once, it's the soul of the one who made the deal that's lost.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Sorry for the long wait, I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff through my summer vacation. Next week, I'm going on a four day trip to London with my mother, brother, and sister, but I'll be bringing my laptop and the hotel we're staying at has internet, so I should be able to write while I'm there:3
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to! I always love to receive feedback:D


	14. Damocles Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel receives another rude awakening, and must think and act fast, if she wants to avoid death...

_It took a long time to fall asleep after I met that… woman… Now I need to look for a soul, but I have no idea how I’m supposed to find one! And judging by what Saki said, I can’t let Cipher know that I’m looking for one either…_

 

It took longer for Mabel to wake up than usual. Normally it took her longer to figure out what to wear than getting out of bed. Her conscious returned slowly, and once it was there, Mabel fought to fall asleep again; she didn’t want to walk around this hotel anymore.

 

She quickly realized, however, that she couldn’t fall back asleep, and opened her eyes, only to see a giant sword suspended above her head.

 

Reacting quickly, she rolled off the side of her bed and down to the floor, just as the sword fell and pierced the bed. She recognized the sword too; it was the one that almost impaled her when she first arrived at the hotel.

 

The sword levitated up again, leaving a deep hole in the bed, and aimed itself at Mabel before hurtling towards her. She dodged out of the way just in time and ran out the door, not looking to see if the sword was following.

 

She skidded to a stop when she reached the lobby and rammed into the back of one of the couches, flipping her over and making her land on her back on the floor, just seeing the sword fly past her and getting imbedded into the wall.

 

“Already doing some morning gymnastics?” a familiar voice asked. Mabel rose from the ground and saw that it was indeed Cipher.

 

“Why was that sword chasing me?” Mabel questioned, gesturing to the sword.

 

“Oh, it still is,” Cipher chuckled, and the sword removed itself from the wall and started chasing Mabel again. She tried to run, duck and dodge out of the way, but the sword kept following her. “Don’t you remember? You promised one of the guests to take care of it. You can’t run from your responsibilities forever.”

 

“Tell that to the guy who forced this sword on me!” Mabel yelled before she had an epiphany.

 

Just as that happened, the door opposite the hallway leading to the rooms opened, and out of it came that Damocles guy, riding his wheelchair.

 

Thinking fast, Mabel dashed towards him, sliding to a stop and ducking in front of him, leading the sword to stab him through the throat.

 

“Oh! That was great!” Cipher laughed, applauding wildly. Mabel tried to catch her breath while staring at the sword, waiting to see if it would chase her again. After a few seconds, the sword seemed to evaporate, leaving none of it behind. “So, did that feel good to you?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Mabel scoffed. “I was just trying to survive. Plus, he kind of deserved it, considering it was his fault the sword was chasing me.”

 

“Hm, interesting,” Cipher pursed his lips together before returning to his trademark smirk. “But were your situations really any different? He was willing to sacrifice you to survive, and vice versa.”

 

“Well, I assume he did something to warrant having a giant sword suspended above him,” Mabel countered.

 

“And you don’t believe you have done something to deserve that?” Cipher asked her. Mabel looked at him with a confused expression; she couldn’t recall doing anything like that. “On another note; how about some breakfast?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can someone have done to warrant a weight as heavy and nervewracking as a sword suspended above you? And has Mabel done something to deserve to that?


	15. The Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel learns what kind of food is served at the hotel, and even meets the hotel's chef

_I wasn’t totally onboard with following Cipher, but damnit I’m hungry! I hadn’t even realized I was getting hungry, like I don’t recall feeling hungry at all while being in this hotel… So this is probably more of the hotel’s mind games, I guess…_

Mabel reluctantly followed Cipher to the dining room; it looked dusty and decrepit, like it hadn’t been used in a long time. Cipher turned to her and held up a hand, signaling her to stop; she obliged.

 

“Wait here,” he said and walked through a door, which Mabel assumed led to the kitchen. He soon returned, carrying a tray with two pairs of standard utensils, an omelet that looked like it was made of rubber and was flubbing around on the plate like the fin of a sea lion on land, a bowl filled with a fuzzy, white substance that seemed to have tiny eyes, and Mabel could even hear noises of distress coming from whatever it was, and finally two glass… chalices, there wasn’t another word for it, filled with a bubbling dark orange liquid that seemed to fizz and overflow the chalices every so often.

 

“A-am I supposed to eat that?” Mabel asked, pulling a disgusted face at the tray.

 

“Um, _no_ ,” Cipher responded, sounding insulted. “This is for me and my sweetheart~” his tone changed instantly to one of joy and happiness. “I bring him breakfast in bed once in a while; usually when he’s too sore to get out of bed.” Cipher nodded towards the kitchen door. “Go in there and find something yourself.”

 

Mabel reluctantly stepped inside, finding a dark and dirty kitchen, the air oozing with smoke to the point that she nearly couldn’t breathe. The chef was standing in front of an oven, which seemed to be the source of the smoke; the chef seemed to be a skeleton, missing several bones, including its lower jaw, along with several ribs and fingers, and wore nothing but a raggedy chef’s hat.

 

“Um,” Mabel let out a small cough, hoping and praying that she could get out of this somewhat unscathed. The skeleton turned around, its hollow eye sockets and featureless skull staring at her. “Can I… get something to eat?”

 

The skeleton pointed to a table, although it was hard to tell since the hand it used lacked an index finger. The table it pointed to stood in the other end of the room and seemed to be decked out with different dishes, as well as plates, bowls, and utensils; it was most likely some sort of buffet for the guests.

 

“Thanks,” Mabel said before heading over to the table. The skeleton chef returned to its cooking, which seemed to alternate between stirring a boiling pot and staring into the smoking oven.

 

Mabel took a look at the different foods on the table; most of them looked delicious, except for the fact that they all seemed to be alive in much the same way that Cipher’s food had. With everything that happened at this hotel, it wouldn’t be a big leap to assume that some kind of magic gave the food life, even the vegan dishes. It seemed the guests at the hotel were so sadistic that they took joy in eating things that were still alive and could possibly feel pain.

 

She tried to focus on the food that didn’t seem to be moving, but not only were there very few of those, but those that were, looked gross and unnatural compared to the living food.

 

She decided that, at the end of the day, she would rather eat something gross over something that was still alive, and picked up an empty bowl and filled it with a thick, red, bubbling soup from a pot on the table. Despite the way the soup was bubbling, almost as if it was boiling hot, no steam or heat emitted from the liquid. Holding her bowl in one hand and picking up a spoon in the other, Mabel walked back to the dining area, and sat down at the table.

 

Taking her first, hesitant spoonful of the soup, she was relieved that it didn’t taste as gross as it looked; it had a very drab, boring taste, kinda like oatmeal made with water instead of milk, and way too much water at that. The consistency was definitely the worst part, as the thick liquid was difficult to swallow.

 

After Mabel was about halfway done with the bowl, she started to feel sleepy, which was definitely odd since she had just been asleep. Eating another spoonful of the soup, Mabel encountered something hard in the liquid and spat it out; it looked like a piece of bone.

 

The realization that this could be related to the chef’s lack of bones, almost made Mabel throw up; almost, but instead she just spat out her soup.

 

Trying to get the idea of having eaten human bones out of her head, Mabel didn’t notice herself getting more and more sleepy, until she fainted headfirst into the bowl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Food so fresh that it jumps off your plate, or food that the chef has put his all into; it is certainly a tough choice.


	16. Eye-See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel awakens after being knocked out, but maybe it would have been better had she stayed unconscious...

_My head hurts… my stomach too… Ergh, and I have a horrible taste in my mouth… What happened?_

The last thing Mabel remembered was when she ate breakfast… She found a piece of bone in her soup, and then… Her food must have been drugged, but why? The thought that maybe the chef wasn’t the only donator to the hotel’s meals crossed her.

 

She was inside a dark room, confined to a soft armchair by metal bracers extending from the chair; there was one around her neck, one resting on her forehead to keep her head in place, one around each of her wrists, ankles, shins, and the back of her elbows, and finally one around her stomach. It was nearly impossible to move because of these confinements.

 

Aside from the chair Mabel was sitting in, the room seemed empty, but then again, without the ability to move her neck, Mabel couldn’t get a good look at the room. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness however, she could make out several mirrors of different sizes standing and hanging around the room, each of their reflective surface pointed in Mabel’s direction.

 

But as her eyes adapted to the darkness, she saw something else; at first she could only make out one big eye, staring at her from behind from behind one of the mirrors. As her vision adapted more, she almost began to wish she could go back to sitting blindly in the dark. The creature had black, veiny skin, it’s face only had one giant eye in the middle, along with a hognose bat-like nose. From its neck, multiple short, thick tendrils were sprawling, as if feeling through the air. Finally, it didn’t seem to have a body, its head was just balancing on a pair of thin, bony arms that ended in clawed hands.

 

“Who are you?” Mabel asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. The monster approached her. It jumped up and rested one of its hands on her lap for support. The other hand gently petted Mabel on the head,  and she was forced to look at this thing.

 

“You… have beautiful eyes…” a raspy, echoing voice emitted from the room. Out of her peripheral vision, Mabel could see the reflections in the mirrors change, but she couldn’t get a good enough look to see what they changed into.

 

The hand on her head left its place, and the creature waddled away from Mabel, only to bounce back on one arm, carrying a jar filled with eyes in the other.

 

“No…” Mabel sobbed, tears streaming down her face as she realized what the monster wanted to do. The creature sat the jar down and returned to its former place balancing on Mabel’s lap, using its free hand to dry Mabel’s tears.

 

She shut her eyes, but opened them again when she heard a loud bang, followed by the creature’s weight lifted from her lap, and the sound of a mirror shattering. In front of her stood Saki, having seemingly punched the creature into one of the mirrors; none of the mirrors seemed to show any reflection now.

 

“At first, I was just gonna let Eye-See do what they do,” Saki said, freeing Mabel from her restraints through brute force. “But then I realized, you wouldn’t be able to locate my soul if you’re blind. I mean, maybe you could, but it would take way too long.”

 

“So are you going to help me?” Mabel asked, rubbing her limbs as they were freed, trying to regain some blood circulation.

 

“Oh no,” Saki shook her head and gave Mabel a stern look. “This is a one-time thing. From now on, you’re on your own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One can only wonder what this creature wanted with those eyes, but it's not always so easy to see things from others' point of view.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it:3 Unfortunately, I've been going through some tough times lately, and it's had a negative impact in my writing. It's not anything serious, like a death or financial trouble, and I'm not in one of the many areas that's been hit or are going to be hit by hurricanes. It's just some stuff related to mental health that I won't get into. Hopefully, my next update won't take that long.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to. I love to receive comments:3


	17. Return of Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While searching for the soul for Saki, Mabel reencounters Judgement Boy

_Saki may be sadistic, and I think Cipher’s her uncle, but she’s still the most friendly being I’ve encountered in this hotel, and that should say a lot about this place._

Before leaving Eye-See’s room, Mabel tore off a part of her sleeve and wrapped it around one of the bigger shards from the mirror Saki broke. It didn’t make for the best weapon, but it was better than nothing.

 

Leaving the room, Mabel found herself in another hallway, of course. She comforted herself with the fact that she wasn’t in that dungeon again, but still, she had no idea where to go.

 

In that moment, Mabel remembered something her brother had told her: “When stuck in a maze, keep your right hand to the wall, and you’ll get out.” So Mabel turned right, placed her right hand on the wall, and walked. The corridors of the hotel might not be a maze in a conventional sense, but it was still a better plan than anything else Mabel could think of. Plus, she felt kind of happy that she was using a trick her brother had taught her.

 

Said joy only lasted for a short time, when she suddenly heard someone yell: “JUDGEMENT!”

 

Like before, the same kind of anthropomorphized scale dropped down from the ceiling, carrying the same two symbols as before. The monster’s smile widened when it saw her, and she froze in fear. The creature hadn’t even said or done anything yet, but the mere memory of what had happened before was enough to make Mabel want to curl up into a ball and cry.

 

“You’ve recently finished your first year of college,” the monster said. “Your brother had suffered a breakdown during his last high school exam. While you hadn’t heard much from him the previous year, after his first college exam, he’s not answering any of your calls or messages. It takes days before he finally calls you up. A short while later, your brother calls you up again, saying he failed his exam because he had another breakdown. What do you do?”

 

There was no longer any doubt that the monster somehow knew things about Mabel’s life, considering that what it just described was exactly what had happened before her brother disappeared.

 

“I… I encourage him to try again,” Mabel almost stutters. “I know he can do better, and he shouldn’t let those mental problems get the better out of him.”

 

“I see,” the monster simply said. “Let’s consult the Balance of Truth!” Once again the scales on the creatures rocked back and forth, until the heart was dropped and fell to the ground, breaking on impact.

 

“But I told the truth!” Mabel protested, staring at the broken heart. The monster ignored her and began to talk again:

 

“When your brother comes to you for help and support, you tell him to just get better. Not unlike a lifeguard seeing a drowning victim and yelling at them to stop drowning. You don’t hear from your brother again, and when he’s officially missing, all you find is a suicide note left behind by him. It was your choice. You get to live with it.”

 

Mabel fell to her knees, sobbing her eyes out, while the monster flew past her. It wasn’t true… She wasn’t the reason her brother disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes truth and falsehood is not two sides of a coin. Often times it is a spectrum of colors, and what seems true to one person is just a lie with a different coat of paint.


	18. Ombra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel encounters another guest at the hotel; this one by the name of Ombra

_I never ever, EVER wanna see that thing again! I’m just gonna find that room with the souls Saki told me about, bring her one, then find my brother and get the hell out of here..._

While walking through the hallway, Mabel kept her eyes peeled, not just to look out for more monsters, but also to try and find a door that looked out of place. She was so focused on what was ahead of her, that she didn’t even realize what was behind her.

 

“Are you looking for something?” a feminine voice asked. Mabel turned around but couldn’t see anyone. “Down here~” Mabel looked down and saw that it was her own shadow that was speaking; the only thing that looked out of place was a pair of eyes that looked nothing like hers, was embedded into her shadow.

 

“W-who are you?” Mabel asked, taking a couple of steps back, but her shadow naturally followed, and along with that, the two eyes too.

 

“My name is Ombra,” the voice sounded from her shadow. “I thought you looked troubled, so I decided to shadow you.” The voice giggled at its own pun.

 

“I’m… looking for my brother,” Mabel responded, averting her eyes from the shadow’s.

 

“Aw, is he lost?” Ombra asked.

 

“H-he just disappeared,” Mabel said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “I j-just want to find him and go home…”

 

“Did he leave because of you?” Ombra asked. Her tone had turned drastically more serious.

 

“W-what?!” Mabel gasped, once again inching away from the shadow. This time, the shadow didn’t just follow her; it grew longer and bigger with every step Mabel took. “N-no!”

 

“Are you even sure he’s here?” Ombra continued asking, her tone now maniacal. Mabel’s shadow rose from the floor, as if it had turned into a three-dimensional body. “With a sister like you… he’d probably kill himself to get away from you!”

 

“Shut up!” Mabel screamed and held tight to her make-shift weapon. “HE’S NOT DEAD!!”

 

Mabel lunched with the mirror shard. Her make-shift dagger went right through the shadow. Ombra grabbed her by the arm.

 

“Come on; everyone here’s taken a life or two~” Ombra chuckled. Mabel dropped the shard and wrestled her arm away from Ombra. Panicking, Mabel grabbed the nearest thing she could find; the lamp behind her that was lighting this part of the hallway. “N-no! Stop!” Ombra shouted, but Mabel ignored her and threw the lamp at her.

 

The lamp went right through the shadow and hit the floor. The light flickered a few times before it went out, bathing that part of the hallway in total darkness. The eyes fell to the floor; without light, there were no shadows to inhabit either.

 

Mabel ran into the nearest room, hoping Ombra couldn’t follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The closer one gets to the light, the larger one's shadow becomes. It is ironically only by being bathed in total darkness that the shadows ceases to exist.


	19. The Butterfly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel hides from Ombra in one of the rooms, and she encounters something as innocent as a tiny butterfly...

_Why…? Why are they saying it’s my fault? It’s not! I didn’t- I have to find my brother soon… otherwise, I don’t know what will happen to me…_

Mabel breathed heavily as she leaned her entire weight into the door. After a few moments of silence, she finally fell to her knees and started crying. Everything was starting to become too much for her, and she was starting to wonder if she would ever be reunited with her brother.

 

Suddenly, in the other end of the room, she heard something. Steeling herself, Mabel got back on her feet and stepped forward to see what it was.

 

All she found was a pedestal. Upon said pedestal stood a glass jar, and inside said glass jar was a butterfly.

 

It was small and pink, flapping its wings as it flew around the jar. Sometimes its wings would stroke the glass, creating the sound Mabel heard before.

 

Taking pity on the poor thing, Mabel released it from its prison.

 

“There you go, little buddy,” she said while the butterfly flitted around, enjoying its new freedom. “I wish someone could just free me from here…”

 

_“Mabel”_

“Huh?” Mabel gasped. That had sounded like her brother, but there was nothing in this room. “Is that you?” she asked the butterfly, already in tears. “Did you turn into a butterfly?! Please, answer me!”

 

_“It hurts”_

“Don’t worry!” Mabel sobbed, gently cupping her hands around the little butterfly. “I’ll find a way to change you back! Everything’s gonna be alright.”

 

_“Why weren’t you there, Mabel?”_

“W-what do you mean?” it was first now that Mabel noticed the sound wasn’t coming from inside the room; it was more like the sound was coming from inside her own mind.

 

_“I needed you”_

“I’m here now,” Mabel tried to assure him, tears still streaming down her face. “I won’t ever leave you again!”

 

_“I didn’t have to suffer”_

_“You could have saved me”_

_“You didn’t do anything!”_

_“You were too busy being selfish!”_

“That’s not true!” Mabel sobbed. “I did everything I could! I didn’t know!”

 

Mabel let go of the butterfly to dry her own tears away. It was then she saw that the butterfly had grown much bigger.

 

“I- I wasn’t being selfish!” Mabel screamed at the butterfly. It grew again; it was now as big as her head. Mabel was starting to realize that this was not her brother.

 

_“It was your fault!”_

_“That suicide note might as well have been written with your hand!”_

**_“YoU KiLlEd mE”_ **

****

“No, I didn’t!” Mabel shouted. “My brother’s not dead! And it wasn’t my fault!”

 

The butterfly kept growing, and along with it, the voices became louder and louder. It wasn’t long before the butterfly filled half the room and the voices were so loud that Mabel had to run.

 

She fled the room, shutting the door behind her, and the voices finally stopped. It seemed like Ombra wasn’t waiting for her in the hallway either.

 

As Mabel made to leave, she noticed a plaque on the wall by the door. It read: “Caution: Butterfly’s Room. Feeding the animals is not allowed”. Below the plaque, someone had written in crayon: “So there’s no access for deniers-deniers-pants-on-fires”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One small decision in the past can build over time, resulting in terrible consequences in the future. Or as it's more commonly referred to; the Butterfly Effect
> 
> Hi! If you're following my other fics, you know that I hadn't updated for a while because a depressive episode, but that I had started writing again because it was over. You're probably then wondering why this update took so long. Well, I had a bad case of the flu for almost two weeks, and I first got better about a week ago. Naturally I couldn't write while sick, so that's why this took some time:3
> 
> The next fics to be updated will be Lovesick and The Demons' Kingdom. I don't know which one will be first; the next chapter of Lovesick will be quite long, and I'm only about halfways done with the conclusion to The Demons' Kingdom, so it's kinda up in the air which one will be finished first.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed:3 If you want to, please leave a comment!


	20. In The Lion's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds herself in possibly the most dangerous place in all of Cipher's House...

_I think I’ve gone insane. There is no way this place can be real… No, I have to stay strong. My brother is trapped somewhere here, and if I don’t find him… I won’t even think about what might happen to both of us…_

Mabel ran. At that point, it was all she could do. She had to find Cipher’s room so she could finish her deal with Saki. Then, she’d find her brother, somehow, and they’d escape this living hell.

 

When she arrived at a staircase, she leaned against the railing for a moment, trying to catch her breath, before proceeding to climb the stairs. She came face to face with a door; it looked so much different from all the other doors, like it didn’t belong in this hotel. It was made from dark, almost black wood, and it lacked a number plaque, instead it just had some weird pattern carved into it.

 

Mabel carefully opened the door, poking her head inside. Inside was a short hallway, three doors on each side, with the hallway ending in a final seventh door. The seventh door had a golden pattern similar to the one she had just gone through. It only made sense that the souls would be hidden behind that door, so Mabel ran to it, trying to open it, only to find it locked. She heard footsteps from behind the door; they sounded panicking. She then heard the sound of someone running up the stairs.

 

Panicking, Mabel ran to one of the other doors, ripped it open, and hid inside, praying that whoever was coming wouldn’t find her.

 

Luckily, she heard the footsteps walk right past her and open what she was pretty sure was the door she had tried to open.

 

“Is everything alright!?” she could hear a muffled voice ask; it sounded worried, scared even. She couldn’t hear the response, but it didn’t seem to soothe the other person’s worries. “What?!” they exclaimed.

 

There was the sound of another door opening, and someone else speaking; “It was me, Bill. I wanted to give you an important message, and I thought you were in your room.”

 

“Well? What is it?” the first speaker asked, and now that Mabel knew it was Bill, she felt even more scared than before; she seriously doubted Bill would forgive her for breaking into what appeared to be his home.

 

“Our guest decided to leave,” the other person said. “Guess she gave up on finding her brother.”

 

“What!?” Bill exclaimed. Mabel could faintly hear someone respond to his outburst, but it seemed to be the person who had been in the room Mabel tried to break into; the one Mabel couldn’t clearly hear. “Will, keep Pine Tree in your room; guard him with your life. If anything happens to him while I’m gone…”

 

He didn’t finish his sentence, but even Mabel could feel his threatening gaze. There were more sounds of footsteps along with more doors opening and closing. Mabel waited for a couple of seconds with bated breath before she dared to go back into the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A hidden ally, found in the place that holds all the answers... But not all answers are equally pleasant.


	21. The Files

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel looks through Cipher's bedroom for clues, hoping to learn anything...

_The hallway was abandoned once again. I don’t know who the two people Cipher spoke to was, but… One of them was either seriously misinformed or, the somehow more likely solution, they covered for me…_

Mabel decided to try the door she had originally wanted to go through; it was no longer locked and, as she poked her head inside, it was empty. The room was golden and black in color, and basically looked like a normal bedroom; a very fancy and expensive bedroom to be fair, but still. There was a king-sized bed, a violin lying on said bed, a dresser, a desk and office chair, both of which was covered in papers and documents, in front of the door was a big mirror, a low table underneath it, with two ceramic pots growing flowers; the room was also decorated with some potted plants. Cipher hadn’t seemed like the caring type of guy, but maybe he acted differently to plants than his hotel guests.

 

She walked over to the desk and began to look through the various papers; at first she was curious what they were, but then she realized that they were all related to the hotel. There were work schedules, lists of activities and arrangements, maintenance notes; they looked like they could have belonged to a normal hotel. Then, after digging through various notes, she found stacks of papers that were different; they looked almost like… police files or public records.

 

The first one she picked up had a picture of a young man with a strained smile. Then there were pages on pages describing what appeared to be his life, specifically how he had been verbally abused by his mother for playing with dolls, how that had led to issues socializing with others, how that had turned him into a hermit, and so on, escalating until the last page described how he, in a fit of rage, had murdered his mother by stabbing her repeatedly with a knife, then attempted to… sew her back together, and when it didn’t work, the file simply said: “He could no longer face reality.”

 

Mabel looked through some of those other files, and they were all the same; from early childhood they would describe how certain events led to others, eventually escalating to some kind of tragedy, and then ending with the words saying that they “could no longer face reality”.

 

She clutched her head in her hands. What did all of this mean? Who were these people? How did Cipher have such detailed files on their lives? And why did they all end the same way?

 

It was then that Mabel spotted another file, hidden between the various papers strewn about. She could only see part of the picture poking out, but there was no doubt about it; that was a picture of her. She hesitated for a moment, but forced herself to pick up the file and read it.

 

It had her name, her age, her birth date. It detailed how she and her brother had been friends since they were born. How they had always considered each other their best friend. How Dipper had excelled in school, and Mabel had grown jealous. How said jealousy had caused her to seek away from her brother, getting new friends. How when Dipper had begun to struggle in school, Mabel had been secretly happy. How Mabel had still tried to help her brother, but had eventually given up and convinced herself that her brother was just lazy and didn’t try hard enough. How she had abandoned her brother when he needed her the most to pursue her own social life. How her brother had stopped answering her scarce phone calls and messages after his exam. How after he came back, he got his grades back, and learned he had failed. How Mabel had told him to just try harder. How her brother had gone quiet once again. How a suicide note had been found in his dorm room. The file ending such: “Realizing she had caused her brother’s death, she could no longer face reality.”

 

Mabel let go of the file. It had been right. Mabel couldn’t deny it any longer. She knew now why she was in this hotel, and why she was being tormented like this; she had killed her brother. She curled into a ball on the chair and started rocking herself back and forth, crying softly.

 

“Are you really gonna give up like that?” a voice asked from behind her. Mabel turned around and almost screamed at who she thought was Bill, but she realized it wasn’t Bill, just someone who looked a lot like him.

 

“Who are you?” Mabel asked, drying away a tear.

 

“My name is Will,” he responded. “You know now why you’re here?” he nodded towards the various papers and files.

 

“Because I killed my brother,” Mabel sobbed.

 

“No!” Will shouted. “Come on! It literally says it in every single file!”

 

Mabel blinked her tears away, mostly because sorrow was getting replaced with confusion.

 

Will picked up Mabel’s file, which was still on the last page, and used a finger to underline the last sentence.

 

“I can’t… face reality?”

 

“You couldn’t face the fact that your brother was dead,” Will confirmed. “But it seems like you’re able to now, which is… interesting.” He got a pondering look on his face.

 

“I need to know one thing,” she paused and tried to brace herself for the answer. “Did my brother ever… end up here?”

 

“… Yes,” Will responded. “I actually thought he’d be the first to escape, but… he came back. And now, he’s dead.”

 

“So… he came back because he couldn’t face reality either,” Mabel nodded to herself. Now she knew what had happened to her brother; after everyone, including Mabel, had pushed him away, he had decided he would rather return to the hotel and die there, than face reality.

 

“Don’t blame yourself,” Will said and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This hotel has taken so many souls; it’s to blame.”

 

“No,” Mabel shook her head and stepped away from Will. Her voice was hoarse with emotions, but her expression was steadfast and stern. “I am not going to lie to myself any longer. If I had been a better sister, my brother wouldn’t have died. But that doesn’t mean this place doesn’t share some of the blame. I am going to leave this place, but not before I destroy it, so it can never hurt anyone again.”

 

“Wow,” Will looked at her in shock, but slowly a smile crept on to his face. “Yes,” he nodded. “That could work… In one of the hotel’s hallways, there’s a jar containing The Eternal Flame. If you let it lose, it can burn down the entire hotel. But you have to promise to never return to hotel, otherwise it won’t work.”

 

“Okay, but first, I have one last piece of unfinished business; Saki saved my life, and in exchange I promised to bring her one of Cipher’s souls… Also, how do I find that Eternal Flame?”

 

“Follow me,” Will led her out of the room and through another door, which led to an enormous room filled with shelves upon shelves of jars with different colored lights inside. Will surveyed them before grabbing one and rearranged the others, so that it was less obvious one had been taken. “Here.”

 

Will handed Mabel the jar. “Give this one to Saki. And don’t worry about finding her or The Eternal Flame; this hotel has a habit of showing people exactly what they want to see…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth has been learned, but our main character refuses to avert her gaze from it. Tonight, the hotel will fall...


	22. The Debt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel pays the price Saki gave her for saving her life...

_I know now why I’m here. I can choose to either give up and receive my punishment for letting my brother die, or I can make sure that no one will ever suffer because of this hotel, again._

Wandering through the hallways, it didn’t take long before Mabel arrived at a hotel door different from the others; like the door to Cipher’s home, it lacked a number plaque and was also more fancy than the other doors, albeit not to the same degree as Cipher’s.

 

Mabel knocked on the door and it didn’t take long before it opened. Saki’s head poked out and, as soon as she saw the jar with the soul, she snatched it out of Mabel’s hands and popped opened the lid.

 

“Oh! I’ve waited so long for this,” she said with an almost orgasmic delight. She plucked the soul out of the jar using her thumb and forefinger, and proceeded to lick and suck on it while making obscene sounds.

 

“Um… I’m just gonna go now,” Mabel said and began to shuffle away.

 

“Mhm, sure,” Saki nodded between her moans and headed back inside her room. Mabel wondered how long that soul would even last…

 

As Mabel began to traverse the hallways once more, hoping to find that Eternal Flame that Will had mentioned, she heard that familiar song from behind her, slowly getting louder; “Do you know who I am? They call me Judgement Boy~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The debt has been paid and the story continues towards its end, with only one more obstacle to face...


	23. The Last Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel once again faces Judgement Boy, but this time she refuses to fear his judgement.

_I knew in an instance who was approaching me. But this time, I refused to cower in fear and regret. No matter what he would ask me, I would not let it stop me from burning this hotel to the ground…_

“I am Judgement Boy!” The monster descended from the ceiling once more with his roar of: “JUDGEMENT!”

 

Its wide grin stretched further when it saw Mabel, and it asked her the question: “You find yourself in a hotel in another dimension. You learn that it was not only your neglect, but also this hotel, that played a role in the death of your brother, whom you love very much. The question is… Who killed your brother?”

 

“I did,” Mabel said without hesitation. “I could have saved him if I had been a better sister; if I had taken the time to listen to him, and help him, like he always helped me. Even if this hotel didn’t exist, my brother would have still taken his life… But that doesn’t change the fact that this place must be destroyed, and that it still played a role in my brother’s death.”

 

“You have chosen not to avert your eyes from the truth, but to meet it head-on,” Judgement Boy’s tone of voice seemed different as he said this. Almost like he was… approving of Mabel’s answer. “Yet instead of cowering in regret, you decide to take action, and do what you can to make up for your role in your brother’s death.”

 

This time, the golden dollar symbol fell instead of the heart, and with that Judgement Boy left.

 

Mabel smiled to herself and continued going in the direction she had been walking in.

 

It didn’t take long before she saw it; The Eternal Flame. There was no doubt in Mabel’s mind that was what it was. She picked up the glass jar and released the orange flame inside. It immediately began to burn its surroundings, and seeing how fast everything was catching on fire, Mabel hurried away, knowing she still had to leave the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lesson has been learned and the bitter truth was swallowed. It is time to move on to the final act...


	24. Cipher's House in Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel watches as the hotel burns to the ground...

_It’s done. Soon the hotel will be no more. The souls still trapped will, hopefully, be free. But even if that isn’t the case, at least new souls won’t be joining them. I won… No, we won, Dipper._

Mabel walked out of the hotel and began to make her way towards the forest, when she spotted Cipher; he was walking out of said forest, only to get a look of absolute fear as he saw the smoke rising from the hotel.

 

“What have you done!?!” he howled, but didn’t wait for an answer. He broke into a run and sped past Mabel, into the infeno.

 

Mabel watched as he ran in there, wondering if perhaps he would try to put out the flames. She wasn’t sure if that was possible, but she still preferred to wait and see; none of this would matter if the hotel didn’t get destroyed.

 

Soon after, Will came running out of the hotel’s front door. He looked surprised at seeing her.

 

“Why are you still here!?” he asked, his voice and expression full of panic. “Go!”

 

“I have to make sure this place truly disappears!” she argued. “For everyone who ever died there.”

 

“But…” Will didn’t finish his sentence, as from the front doors, Cipher ran out, carrying someone wrapped in a blanket. Cipher was covered in burn marks, but the blanket was free of burns, meaning it was probably a fire-safe blanket. “Go.” Will commanded her, but now Mabel was curious; why wouldn’t Cipher have used the blanket on himself? What was so special about this person, that he had run into a burning building to rescue them?

 

“Are you okay?” Cipher asked the person as he placed them on their legs; which were bare and wrapped in a few vines. Cipher’s voice was tender and full of concern; his eyes looked like they were close to tears.

 

“Yes, thank you,” the person said in a voice which Mabel recognized all too well. They pulled of the blanket, but their back was turned to her, revealing only brown hair which looked a little longer and wavier than Mabel remembered, also with a few vines intertwined with the locks.

 

“… Dipper?” Mabel whispered as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She almost couldn’t believe it. She stepped closer and reached out a hand, just as the person turned around to see her.

 

There was no longer any doubt; it was Dipper. At first Mabel thought he looked younger, but then she realized it was the absence of stress wrinkles and eye bags that gave that impression. His skin looked pristine; almost as if it was carved from polished wood, but it still looked soft and warm. His brown eyes now had a vague glint of green in them, and he was wearing what looked like a cocktail dress made from pine needles.

 

“It’s really you,” Mabel cried and tried to get closer to him, but Dipper ran over to Cipher and hid behind him; a look of hatred and disgust spread on Dipper’s face. “Dipper? I-“

 

“You almost killed me!” Dipper shouted, clinging on to Cipher like a lifeline. “If Bill hadn’t saved me, I would have burned alive in that fire you started!”

 

“I- I didn’t know you were in there!” Mabel tried to explain. “I- I thought- Dipper, please! I’m so sorry-“

 

“Why are you calling me that?” Dipper asked with an angry frown. “My name is Pine Tree.”

 

“Oh…” Mabel shook her head. “What did Cipher do to you?”

 

“Why are you saying it like that?!” Dipper, or Pine Tree, finally stepped out from behind Cipher. “Bill has done nothing but treat me like a treasure. Then you come along, nearly kill me, destroy our home, and try to what? What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?”

 

“I… I don’t,” Mabel shook her head. Her brother had still been there. She had almost killed him. Why had she done that? She had a realization and turned to Will with a look of betrayal. “You said my brother was dead! You told me to burn down the hotel, knowing I would have killed him!”

 

“Mabel!” Will shouted. “That’s not your brother! Your brother was gone the moment he decided to stay at the hotel! All that’s left of him is that soulless husk!”

 

“How dare you!” Cipher hissed and stepped in front of Dipper in a defensive stance. “You don’t get to speak to him like that!”

 

Mabel looked at the now burnt remains of Cipher’s House. She almost couldn’t comprehend this; Cipher seemed to really care about her brother, her brother seemed to like living in the hotel, and Will… the guy she thought had been helping her, had lied to her and almost made her kill Dipper.

 

“Mabel, listen to me,” Will implored. “You wanted to stop the hotel, right? You need to leave now, or none of this will have mattered at all.”

 

Mabel looked at her brother and Cipher; Bill was holding him close, softly stroking his hair. Her brother seemed genuinely sad and betrayed.

 

“Dipper,” Mabel stepped closer to her brother. “Or… Pine Tree… Were you really happy at the hotel?”

 

“Yes,” he replied.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? Back to reality?”

 

“No!” Pine Tree reminded Mabel more of her brother than ever, now that it looked like he was getting close to a panic attack. “All I remember about that place is pain! I never want to back there!”

 

“Alright then,” Mabel sighed with a small smile. “I guess this is my chance to finally be a good sister.”

 

“You can be that if you leave!” Will said, his voice full of panic again. “Let your brother’s soul find rest-“

 

“No,” Mabel said decisively. “I promised when I first got here that I wouldn’t leave without my brother. I’m going to keep that promise. I’m staying here.”

 

With those words, the hotel began to repair itself; it looked like the destruction was happening in reverse, as all the fire damage was undone.

 

Bill and Pine Tree looked on with expressions full of joy and happiness. Will looked like he was filled with despair at the sight.

 

“We’re back in business!” Bill yelled with a large grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one can defeat Cipher's House. No one can escape Cipher's House.


	25. Reopening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything returns to normal...

_And so another cycle is completed, and the hotel returns to normal. Another guest joins the ranks of the souls who will never escape Cipher’s House. For no one can escape Cipher’s House._

Pine Tree liked the hotel’s new permanent guest; her name was Shooting Star, and even though the fact that she was made out of rocks burning in pastel colors meant that her flames could accidentally hurt him, she was kind and energetic, and loved spending time with him. The two of them seemed to have a connection that Pine Tree couldn’t place, but he didn’t really care to analyze it.

 

The two of them were sitting in the hotel lobby and having a talk, when Pine Tree’s other favorite person showed up.

 

“It’s time to return to your rooms soon~” Bill said as he stood behind Pine Tree, placing one hand on each of his shoulders. “Our new guest is expected to arrive any moment now, and we can’t have him see anything too… disturbing on his first night.”

 

“Oh, but Bill,” Pine Tree gave him an exaggerated pout and bit his thumb. “I still need to do one more thing before going to bed.”

 

“Did you forget to change the sheets?” Bill asked with a slight smirk; of course he already knew Pine Tree would never forget one of his duties, especially not one that was crucially to keeping the charade going for just long enough.

 

“Of course not,” Pine Tree laughed and playfully slapped Bill’s hand.

 

A knock was heard on the hotel’s front door.

 

“Oh! Whatever it is, it will have to wait until I’ve shown our guest her new room!” Bill said and swung over to the door.

 

Pine Tree and Shooting Star both left for the door behind the check-in counter; there was a small peephole through the wall in there that they could use to scope out the new guest.

 

Pine Tree looked through the hole, watching as a young, frazzled looking woman was helped inside by Bill. She looked pale and her eyes were bloodshot.

 

“Who is it?” Shooting Star asked, leaning over Pine Tree’s shoulder.

 

“Hmm, if I remember the files correctly, she’s that one who was kicked out by her family and lived on the streets,” Pine Tree said. He observed Bill talking to her and escorting her to the guest room. “Alright, coast is clear.”

 

They both left the backroom; Shooting Star made her way to her room, while Pine Tree grabbed a tray of food and water he had left on the coffee table in the lobby. He walked with the tray down the hall to a newer addition to the hotel; a big steel door seemingly bolted shut, but Pine Tree retrieved his key to the door and opened it.

 

“And how are we doing today?” he asked sweetly as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

 

Inside, the room looked a dungeon, with dirt floor and cold stone walls, with the only light coming from a window with bars on it. Under this window, chained to the wall, sat Will. His body looked beaten and malnourished, and his mouth was partially sewn shut, only allowing it to open the tiniest bit. Various parts of his body were also covered in random stitches, and even one of his eyes was sewn completely shut.

 

“I have soup,” Pine Tree said as he placed the tray on the ground and picked up a spoon to feed Will.

 

“He used you,” murmured Will in a weakened voice after a couple of spoonfuls.

 

“Huh?” Pine Tree tilted his head in confusion.

 

“When he ‘saved’ you from the fire,” Will clarified.

 

“What?” Pine Tree gave him a hard to read look.

 

“He doesn’t care about you; he just knew seeing you would-“

 

Then Pine Tree laughed. He let out a strong, cruel laughter.

 

“I already know that!” Pine Tree said. “Whose plan did you think it was?”

 

“What?” now it was Will’s turn to look confused.

 

“Yeah, the whole get her to burn the hotel, almost kill me?” Pine Tree elaborated. “That was my idea.”

 

“But… how-?”

 

“Did I know you would suggest The Eternal Flame to her?” Pine Tree giggled. “What did I say to you? ‘What if she burns down the building while Bill’s gone?! I would be gone in an instance!’ Oh, don’t give me that look, Will; I already knew you were a traitor. I might not remember much from my first days at the hotel, but I remember you trying to ‘help’ me leave. Bill refused to believe that a member of his family would ever betray him, so I suggested this plan to prove it. And now, I just happen to have your old job, as I’m the only one Bill would trust that position to~”

 

“But… Bill is manipulating you…”

 

Pine Tree laughed again. “Really? You think he’s the one manipulating me? I have him wrapped around my finger. A little pout there, a wave with my eyelashes there, and he’ll do whatever I say. So yeah,” he rose to his feet. “I manipulate him… but I also really love him. He saved me after all. It’s your fault you can’t understand the love we share.”

 

And with that, Pine Tree turned towards the door.

 

“Don’t worry; I’ll leave the rest of your food there,” he pointed to the tray sitting about five feet away from the chained up Will. “In case you get hungry or thirsty later.”

 

Will snapped and tried to pull himself free of the chains, but it didn’t work, and Pine Tree left him there; alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The damsel in distress never needed rescue, and now holds more power in the realm of Cipher's House than anyone, including the owner. But I suppose most people lived happily ever after...
> 
> Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait for an update; I had my first big school assignment for the year (it went really well), and after that I got sick for an week! But after that, I was healthy all throughout my autumn break, and so I decided to not just give you guys the usually three chapter update for Cipher's House; instead, I gave it a little extra, so I could finish the fic, as an early Halloween present for you guys!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one:D I have two more fics planned for the Cipher's House series. Anyone who's watched the show can probably predict what I have planned for the next one, since the first fic is loosely based on Season 1, and this one was loosely based on Season 2. The fourth and final fic in the series will be a bunch of short stories taking place in the hotel, focusing on Bill, Pine Tree, and Shooting Star.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading this! If you want, please leave a comment:D I always enjoy getting those!


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